Railway-track cleaner.



R0. 631.847. Patented Aug'. 29, |899. F. V. DART & C. W. MGMURRY.

RAILWAY TRACK CLEANER.

(Application filed June 14, 1899.)

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ATTORNEY.

.UNITED STATES PATENT trice,

FRANK V. DART AND CHARLES W. MCMURRY, OF SEATTLE, IVASIIINGTON.

RAILWAY-TRACK CLEAN ER.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 631,847, dated August29, 1899. Application led June 14,1899. Serial No. 720,594. (No medal.)

To all whom, t rita/y concern:

Be it known that we, FRANK V. DART and CHARLES W. MCMURRY, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Seattle, in the county of King and Stateof Vashington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRailway-Track Cleaners, of which the following is a specification,reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

Our invention relates to certain new and useful improvements inrailway-track cleaners; and it consists of the novel construction andcombination of parts hereinafter described, and pointed out in theclaims.

The objects of our improvements are, first, to provide iiangers orscoops working in combination with a rotary snow-plow to thoroughlyclear the track of snow in advance of car,that the wheels of said carinpassing over the rails will not compress the snow upon said rails socompactly as to make it extremely difficult to remove the same; second,to so arrange the flan gers that the snow will be moved to the rotaryplow orv toward the middle of the track within the path or range of therotary plow; third, by so attaching the iian gers in such a manner tothe casing of a rotary plow and connecting them by operating mechanismunder the control of the operator in the car that they may be readilyraised from the rails or lowered thereto, which improvements are fullyset forth in this specification and ac- `companying drawings, in which-Figure l is a side elevation, and Fig. 2 a plan view looking from below,both views showing our track-cleaners attached to a rotary-plow casingshown by broken lines and arrangement of mechanism for tilting thetrack-cleaners or flangers into or out of operation.

Similarletters refer to similar parts throughout both views. i

In the drawings, F represents the Hangers, pivotally connected to thefront lower edge of the rotary casing R by the hinges D. C C are armsthe lower ends of which are rigidly secured to the said flangers, whiletheir upper ends are pivotally jointed to the links B B, connecting saidarms through the cross-head G to the piston-rod II of the steam or aircylinder A, which is secured by bracket to bottom of car-body N, asshown. We prefer to actuate the valve controlling the admission of thesteam or air into said cylinder by means of a balanced lever L and treadK within the car, though a lever or other suitable means maybe utilized.J- is a guide -for piston-rod', and E E supports for cross-head. Boltedto the said iiangers F F for the purpose of clearing the snow from theinner sides of rails S for the passage of the rim-iianges of truckwheelsM are the iiange-points P P.

The operation of the device is as follows: The fian gers are tilted upwhen passing over crossings or obstructions on the track by theadmission of air into one side the cylinder, which through the piston insaid cylinder and connecting mechanism it is raised, and by admittingair to the opposite side of cylinder or by the weight of iiangers theyare lowered to their normal position.

An important feature of our invention is that it takes up but littlespace and is adapted to the forms of rotaries in general use.

From this brief description it will be seen that the operation andconstruction of our invention are extremely simple andperfectly adaptedto accomplish the purpose for which intended, and it is apparent thatchanges in and modifications of the construction herein described may bemade without departing from the spirit of our invention or sacriiicingits advantages. I'

We are aware that Hangers and iiangerpoints have been used for clearingthe snow from the rails. We do not claim all Hangers for this purpose;but

What we do claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a track-cleaner of the character described, the combination with arotary snowplow, of flangers hinged to the lower edge of the front ofcasing of said plow, iiange-points secured to said Hangers, arms one endof each being secured to the said dangers and the other ends pivotallyconnected to links, said links, cross-head, cylinder with suitable valvecontrolling communication between said cylinder and the pressure-supply,piston movable in said cylinder, operative connection between saidpiston and said cross-head, substantially as described.

2. In a track-cleaner of the character de- IOO seribed, the combinationwith a rotary snowplow, of hangers hinged to the lower edge of the frontof casing of said plow, arms one end of each being secured to the saiddangers and the other ends pivotally connected to links, said links,cross-head, cylinder with suitable Valve controlling communicationbetween said cylinder and the pressure-supply, piston movable in saidcylinder, operative connection between said piston and said cross-head,substantially as described.

3. In a track-cleaner of the character described, the combination with arotary snowplow, of dangers hinged to the lower front

